Nouning adjectives for people: please don't

[marcmagus]

Polyamory in the News has a post which I totally haven't read yet titled Polys: Winning the Race to Define ourselves... So Far. As I haven't read it, I have no comment on its content, but I have a complaint about the title.

I am poly. I am a poly person. I am very uncomfortable with being referred to as a poly, or to us generally being referred to as polys.

I'm similarly uncomfortable with referring to people as blacks, or gays [and I really hope I don't]. I think, in general, turning an adjective which describes something about a person, and particularly something about them for which they might be marginalized, into a noun has a strongly dehumanizing effect, suggesting that it is the whole of their identity and they are thus dismissable.

So, just a reminder, if you use a couple of extra syllables to use an actual noun, you cost yourself a couple of syllables or a few keystrokes, and you're much less likely to hurt someone else.

Comments

[jere7my.livejournal.com]

Polys? Polys? Pronounced pole-iss or pahl-iss? It should be "polies", though I'm not sure that's any better.

[jere7my.livejournal.com]

I do quibble with the pluralization, but I'm not sure about the universality of your rule — do you also avoid "lesbians" and "bisexuals"? "Blacks" and "gays" both have specific pejorative connotations because they've been oft-used by people who discriminate (especially when preceded by "the"); I'm not convinced substantive adjectives are pejorative ab initio.

[marcmagus]

Yeah; if I'd taken the time to puzzle out all those details this never would have gotten posted. I think it would suffice to say [and I see I didn't] that it's problematic in enough situations that one should tread carefully and at least consider whether it's going to be a problem.

It's tricky because English nouns adjectives all the time, so the distinction I'm making is already somewhat artificial, although I think it's still relevant to a part of the issue. I completely agree that the oft-used-as-pejorative aspect is probably dominant, but I think there's enough of a pattern to suggest care.

[And you're totally right about a preceding "the" intensifying the problem]

[jere7my.livejournal.com]

I think you're right to agitate against "polys" if you don't like it, quite apart from the ridiculous problems with spelling. (I mean, it looks like "polyps". And is it short for "polyamorouses", which sounds like a rather fun kind of African wading mammal?) The adjective "queer" has been reclaimed, but "queers" is still a nasty slur (as far as I know — it might've been reclaimed too); I'm all about fighting for the terms of self-definition.

[mogwit.livejournal.com]

"Queers" is somewhat reclaimed, but as far as I can tell it's in-community use only. I wouldn't use it, I'd be OK if a queer person called me a queer, but I would feel weird if someone outside of the community used it.